Sacramental service

I've been corrected by Christian hipsters when I used the word, "sacred," because there's a cultural shift away from the sacred vs. secular mindset. For the most part, I agree with this shift. I think we often miss redemptive opportunities because we dismiss conversations or art work or tasks or people as "secular," and outside of the realm of "spiritual" Importance.

But I do think that, once we understand that even the smallest impulses of our hearts have sacred significance, there are certain actions or moments worth setting aside, worth treating as "sacred," because they bring the rest of our lives into focus. So when I speak of sacrament, I mean those God-given, significant activities that help to re-center us, and to turn hearts and minds back upon their creator.

Jesus set the eating of bread and the drinking of wine as a sacramental activity, to bring his followers into communion with Him. "This is my body, broken for you." "This is my blood, shed for you."

So we Christians treat communion with a special reverence, because it brings us in contact with Christ.

What I've been impressed by in the last few years is the power of serving the poor when we give it the same sacramental weight. Even as we do it to the least of these, we do it unto Him. It's so similar to communion in the way we encounter Christ when we serve the poor.

I've wrestled with the volume of the task before us. We can't really solve even one person's problems. We can't make someone realize the power of the gospel. We can't feed everyone, prevent all abuse, bring everyone to Christ.

When you look at it carefully, there's not really much we can do at all.

But we have been sent out to work nonetheless. So how do we sustain our desire to do the work? What holds us to the task? What refreshes and grows us if we're charging a hill we know we can't climb?

When we serve, we grow in relationship with Christ. So, when I face the kids, I wait expectantly for revelation. When I see the gang graffiti on our walls, I ask how I can meet Christ there.

I dig in to the community because, when I treat ministry as a sacrament, when I set out to discover Love, the work gives life instead of taking it. It refreshes and motivates me because the heart of my creator is hidden in the act of loving my neighbors.

So what of the harvest, then? I believe that the sacramental perspective actually makes me care more deeply, work more heartily, think more clearly, and get more done.

When I entered this ministry, I did it because I needed it to sustain my spirit. The call to minister was the call to grow in Christ.

Not that everyone should live in my neighborhood or do what I do, but I believe that a Christian who wants to know Christ should be engaged in loving service to those around them. Not doing so is like skipping out on communion, like living apart from your spouse, like refusing to eat.

Ministry is a sacrament. It has been given to us that we may live more fully, love more deeply, and experience union with Christ, who is the beating heart of the Christian's life.